Tamil Tigers

Chronology of Coverage

Feb. 17, 2015

United Nations agrees to defer release of landmark report on potential war crimes in Sri Lanka during long war with rebel Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam; decision follows intense lobbying by Sri Lankan officials in what top officials describe as a broad new level of cooperation; nation will now demonstrate whether it can mount its own credible investigation into atrocities. MORE

Mar. 28, 2014

United Nations Human Rights Council votes to open international investigation into possible war crimes by both Sri Lankan government and Tamil Tiger rebels in final stages of 26-year civil war that ended in 2009; vote comes amidst fierce opposition from Sri Lanka. MORE

May. 12, 2013

Op-Ed article by author Aatish Taseer describes way in which Tamils of Sri Lanka suffered enduring moral and psychological defeat when Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam were defeated. MORE

Mar. 22, 2013

Op-Ed article by reporter Samanth Subramanian warns United Nations resolutions urging Sri Lankan government to investigate human rights abuses during its bloody campaign to crush rebels are ineffective, and may impede progress; calls on international community to take meaningful action if Sri Lanka continues to ignore human rights abuses. MORE

Feb. 27, 2013

Human Rights Watch accuses Sri Lankan security forces of continuing to use torture, rape and other forms of sexual violence against people suspected of being Tamil Tiger rebels and their supporters, nearly four years after end of civil war; calls for international investigation into practice. MORE

Dec. 28, 2012

Piratheepan Nadarajah and Suresh Sriskandarajah, extradited from Canada to the United States on charges of supporting Sri Lankan terrorist group Tamil Tigers, are ordered held without bond during appearance in Federal District Court in Brooklyn; men had been sought by US since 2006 when they engaged in negotiations to buy weapons from an undercover FBI agent. MORE

Nov. 14, 2012

Internal review of how United Nations handled bloody final months of Sri Lanka’s civil war in 2009, when as many as 40,000 civilians were killed, concludes that response was failure. MORE

Oct. 18, 2012

Sri Lankan authorities say Selvarasa Pathmanathan, leader of defeated Tamil Tiger rebels who is wanted by India on suspicion of helping plan assassination of former Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi in May 1991, will not face criminal charges. MORE

Mar. 23, 2012

United Nations Human Rights Council passes an American-backed resolution pressing the Sri Lankan government to investigate the deaths of tens of thousands of civilians during the final stages of the 26-year civil war with the Tamil separatists. MORE

Australia’s government handed over 41 asylum seekers to Sri Lankan authorities in a transfer at sea, drawing outrage from human rights groups who fear that the Sri Lankans could be persecuted in their home country.

Political leaders in Tamil Nadu usually pay little attention to the refugees’ dire living conditions, but in every election season, parties compete to portray themselves as champions of the Sri Lankan Tamils.

As Muthuvel Karunanidhi, the chief of the Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam in Tamil Nadu, plots a resurgence in the 2014 elections, there is the feeling that this may prove to be a comeback too far for the grand old man of Indian politics.